Ruling and Gameplay
This page is still in-progress, a help can be very appreciated.* Deck * Consists of 40 - 60 cards. * You can have only 3 cards with the same name in your Deck. * 5 Initial Evolution Monsters may be included in the deck without counting towards the deck limit. Card Types * Monster Card *# Attribute - The 'color' of the Monster. Each Monster belongs to either Fire, Water, Wood, Light, or Darkness. A Monster's Attribute determines which Drop Combos cause them to attack, and which Skill cards you can use. *# Cost - The amount of Drop cards trashed to evolve into the Monster. *# Sub-Attribute - An additional Attribute some Monsters may have. Behaves the same as a Monster's main Attribute. *# Defense - The amount of Power a Monster may absorb from an attack. *# Monster Icon - Shows the Monster Type. *# Power - The strength of a Monster's attack. The Power's level is determined by the number of combos in an attack. *# Additional Damage - Some Power tiers deal an additional amount of damage. They appear as a +X icon next to the Power value, where X is the additional damage dealt. *# Effect Type - The conditions under which an effect is applied *# Effect Text - A Monster's effects on the game. *# Evolution Stage - The level of a Monster's Evolution. *# Monster Name *# Evolution Source - The Monster this card evolves from. *# Drop - The Drop Attributes this card provides while in the Drop Area. * Skill Card *# Attribute - The 'color' of the Skill. Coincides with Monster card Attributes. In order to use a Skill card, you must have a Monster of a matching Attribute in play. *# Cost - The amount of Drop cards trashed to play the Skill. *# Skill Icon *# Effect Type *# Effect Text *# Skill Name *# Drop Setting Up # Put 5 Initial Evolution Monsters in the Monster Area. # Move 5 cards from the top of your deck to the Life Area. Cards in the Life Area stay face down may not be looked at. # Draw 5 cards for your starting hand. # Draw 3 cards, and add one to each Drop Area with their Drops at the top of the card. # Exchange cards between your hand and Drop Area until you're satisfied. # Decide who goes first. Winning Conditions * Deplete your Rival's Life. Gameplay Activate Phase * The turn player Activates (makes upright) 1 of their Monsters that are Rolled (sideways). Draw Phase * The turn player draws 1 card. Main Phase * Evolving: The turn player may evolve their Monsters by placing an Evolved Form of that Monster on top. Each Monster may evolve one time each turn. Monsters evolved in this way are immediately Activated, and any Evolution effects may follow. * Playing Skill Cards: The turn player may play Skill cards from their hand. After resolving its effects, the Skill card is trashed. Skill cards may only be activated if one of your Monsters and the Skill card share an Attribute. * Paying Costs: Monster cards and Skill cards with a cost greater than 0 must have their cost paid from the Drop Area as they are being played. When paying costs for a card, trash a number of cards from your Drop Area equal to the card's cost. You cannot trash cards from a Drop Area in a way that would leave that area empty. You may pay costs from multiple Drop Areas, so long as they are never fully depleted. Puzzle Phase * Drop Start Step: The turn player must add the top of their Deck to the top of any of their Drop Areas. The player that goes first skips this step on their first turn. * Additional Drop Step: The turn player may add 1 card from their Hand into any of their Drop Areas. * Combo Startup: If there are 3 or more Drops of the same Attribute in any of the turn player's Drop Area, they form a Combo. If multiple Drop Areas are able to Combo, only one Drop Area resolves. The remaining Drop Areas will not be involved in the Puzzle Phase for the rest of the turn. * Combos: For every Attribute that forms a Combo, the turn player adds a card from the top of their deck to that Drop Area. If this causes a new Attribute to form a combo, more cards are drawn and added in the same way. Each Attribute can only Combo once in a turn, regardless of how many sets of 3 Drops appear in the combo. When no new Combos are formed and there are no more cards left to add to the Drop Area, proceed to Battle Phase. ** Recovery: If a Heart Combo was formed and the turn player has less than 5 Life, they add one card from the top of their deck to the top of their Life Area. Battle Phase * Attack Declaration: All the turn player's Monsters with an Attribute that matches at least one of the Attributes being Comboed move forward into the Attack Area. Each Monster attacks with a Power based on how many Combos were formed in the turn (with more Combos leading to higher Power attacks). Monsters may attack regardless of whether they are Activated or Rolled. * Defense Declaration: The defending player may absorb attacks with their own Monsters. The defending player Rolls Monsters with a total Defense equal or greater to a single attacking Monster's Power to negate the attack; the attacking Monster is then moved back to the Monster Area. The defending player does this for each attacking Monster they wish to defend against. Defense from a single Monster cannot be split among different attacking Monsters, and any Defense in excess of an attacking Monster's Power is lost. At this time, the defending player may also activate any Skill cards or Monster effects with a Defense icon on them. * After Defense Declaration, if any attacking Monsters remain, the defending player takes damage from each one. Each Monster normally does one damage; the defending player draws a card from the bottom of his Life Area for each damage dealt. After all damage is dealt, the attacking Monsters return to their respective Monster Areas. End Phase * Trash all cards in any Comboed Drop Area, leaving behind the newest card. * If a player has cards more than 7 cards in their Hand, they must discard until they have only 7 cards in their Hand. * Play then passes to the next player. A player who depletes their Deck does not immediately lose--rather, whenever the deck is needed and depleted, the player takes the cards from the Trash and shuffles them to form a new Deck. Keywords & Icons Cost - Paid for by trashing cards from one's own Drop Areas. Trigger - This effect can be activated when its conditions are met. Evolution - This effect can be activated upon the Monster's Evolution. Defense - This effect can be activated while Defending. Damage - If a card with this effect type is drawn off of damage, the effect may be activated. Continuous - This effect is always active as long as it is in play and its conditions are met. Q&A Q : If I don't form any Combos from adding cards to my Drop Area, can I add more cards until I make one? A : No. Even if cards from the Drop Start/Additional Drop don't start a combo, or if the bonus cards from a Combo don't extend it, you may not continue adding cards in those ways.